Media carrier container

ABSTRACT

A front panel having a front to back open section therein is coupled to a rear panel by a hinge. The rear panel has an area on its inside surface. Text and/or a design that characterizes the media carrier appears on the area. The raised area and the open section are sized and positioned relative to each other, such that the text and/or design is visible from the front, when the panels are parallel to each other with the container closed, and when the panels are perpendicular to each other when the container is open. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.

This application claims the benefit of the earlier filing date of U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/675,535, filed Apr. 27, 2005.

An embodiment of the invention is a container, suitable for storing oneor more machine-readable media carriers (e.g., media compact discs, suchas a digital video disc, DVD) to be used in a retail, point-of-saleenvironment. Other embodiments are also described for the sale of discswith stored, digital movies, or other valuable media.

BACKGROUND

The world has seen several different types of packaging formachine-readable media carriers that are commonly known as compactdiscs. For example, the jewel box design is popular for the sale ofmusic CDs. More recently, cases made out of softer plastic with livinghinges, sometimes referred to as Amaray® type cases, have become popularfor DVDs. In both cases, the case is a type of box that typically has afront panel and a rear panel that are hinged and that are essentiallythe same size and shape, and once closed the case resembles a flat box.Advertising or other promotional material may be printed on a sheet ofpaper or paper board that is held against the inside front panel, orsometimes inserted into a pocket that is formed between the outsidesurface of the front panel and a transparent plastic sheet. In thelatter case, the advertising material is not visible from the front ifthe box is fully open. With the former, the advertising material is notvisible if the box is closed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The embodiments of the invention are illustrated by way of example andnot by way of limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings inwhich like references indicate similar elements. It should be noted thatreferences to “an” embodiment of the invention in this disclosure arenot necessarily to the same embodiment, and they mean at least one.

FIG. 1 is an elevation view of a preferred embodiment of the invention,looking at the inside surface of an open, media carrier container.

FIG. 2 is an elevation view of the container, looking at the outsidesurfaces of the front and back panels.

FIG. 3 is a close up view of an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates another embodiment of the invention, with a discbeing held inside the open container on one panel and an informationbooklet to be held on another panel.

FIG. 5 is a front elevation view of the preferred embodiment, with thecontainer closed.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In this section we shall explain several preferred embodiments of thisinvention with reference to the appended drawings. Whenever the shapes,relative positions and other aspects of the parts described in theembodiments are not clearly defined, the scope of the invention is notlimited only to the parts shown, which are meant merely for the purposeof illustration.

FIG. 1 shows an elevation view of a preferred embodiment of theinvention, looking into an open container 104. The container 104 iscomposed of a front panel 108 that is coupled by a living hinge 110 to arear or back panel 112. The panels 108, 112 may be of plastic, formedusing conventional molding techniques. In the orientation shown, theliving hinge 110 runs vertical and is located to the right of the frontpanel 108 (as viewed into the open container), and to the left of therear panel 112. A second living hinge that is parallel to the hinge 110may be added between the panels, on either side of a spine 121 (see FIG.4) to give more articulation to the two panels. Each of the panels inthis example is essentially rectangular and together with peripheralwalls 105, 107, and 111 are shaped to form a box when closed (see FIG.5). The front panel has an open section 113 (open in the sense offront-to-back) that has either been cut out or not formed, such that itstop horizontal edge 116 is connected to its left vertical edge 118 by adiagonal edge 117. Note that in this example, the diagonal edge 117 isessentially straight and forms equal obtuse angles with the verticaledge 118 and the horizontal edge 116. The angles may alternatively bedifferent. Also, in another alternative, the diagonal edge may be curved(e.g., semicircle).

Referring now to FIG. 5, with the front and rear panels abutting eachother in the closed condition as shown, note how the edge 117 in thisexample conforms to but stops short of contacting the inside edge 119 ofa raised piece 120 (or raised area 120) that is on the inside surface150 of the back panel 112. The area 120 is “raised” in this embodimentwith respect to the substantially flat, inside surface 150. The raisedpiece 120 and its corresponding open section 113 are shaped andpositioned so that the front panel when rotated about the hinge 110 caneasily lie flat, i.e. parallel to the inside surface of the back panel112 in the closed position, with the raised piece 120 preferably fillingessentially the entire area of the open section 113. The height of thepiece 120 should preferably be such that its top surface is essentiallycoplanar with the outside of the front panel 108, when the container isclosed as seen in FIG. 5.

The container 104 preferably has a retaining mechanism on the frontand/or rear panels, to retain the panels abutted to each other in theirclosed position. For example, a pair of conventional, tongue and groovelocks (e.g., the tongue on the front panel near its unhinged verticaledge, the groove on the rear panel near its unhinged vertical edge, orvice versa) may be molded into the plastic panels. Other mechanisms thatcan be integrated with the front and/or rear panels, during a moldingprocess in which the panels are formed, can alternatively be used.

Returning to FIG. 1, the vertical outside edge 132 and horizontaloutside edge 133 of the piece 120 are in this example coextensive withthe vertical edge 139 of the back panel 112, as well as the horizontaledge (in this case the top horizontal edge) 140 of the back panel 112.This is apparent in all of the figures of the embodiment illustratedhere.

The open section 113 is preferably located at the top of the front panel108, rather than the bottom or its side. The open section 113 exposesthe raised piece 120 that is located in this example at a top corner ofthe rear panel 112, opposite the hinged side. As an alternative, theopen section 113 and the piece 120 may be located not at a corner oredge of the panels, but rather at a location that is spaced inward fromthe boundary of the panels. For example, an area or location 155 may bean alternative location for the piece 120 (as well as showing analternative, diamond shape for the piece 120, as opposed to thetriangular shape shown in all of the figures here). Yet anotheralternative is given by the location 157, where this triangular regionis located about half way down from the top edge 140, at the side oredge opposite the hinged side. Other locations for the piece 120 arealso possible so long as the piece 120 will not interfere with placementand storage of the media carrier inside the container.

The corresponding open section 113 in the front panel 108 allows atleast the top surface of the piece 120 to remain in view from the frontof the container 104, regardless of whether the container is open asshown in FIG. 1, or closed as shown in FIG. 5. In the examples here,identifying text and/or a logo has been imprinted or otherwise formed onthe top surface of the piece 120. For example, the text and/or design onthe area 120 might indicate the level of security or copy protectionthat has been built into the media carrier, for accessing or copying themedia. In this case, the identifying text describes the type of mediacarrier that is contained inside the box, namely high definition digitalvideo disc (HD-DVD). The text, as well as the area of the top surface ofthe piece 120, is preferably large enough to allow a person to recognizethe text from a distance of up to several feet, e.g. five feet. Thishelps the collector of such media to easily distinguish between thedifferent types of DVDs that may be carried by the same type ofcontainer. The invention, however, is not limited to use with DVDs andmay alternatively be used with other media carriers, such as otherdisk-like carriers (e.g., music CDs; computer software discs).

An additional benefit of the open section 113 may be that it renders thebox easier to open. For instance, a user may place her thumb of aparticular hand on the top surface of the piece 120, while at the sametime using one or more other fingers of the same hand to pry open theclosed container, by pulling back on the inside of the front panel 108at either the top horizontal edge 116 or the vertical edge 118.

In another embodiment of the invention, the area or location 155, 157(or the area at the top corner, over which the raised piece 120 isformed in the figures) could be at essentially the same level, i.e. notraised, relative to the majority of the inside surface 150 of the rearpanel 112. Such an area could still bear the text and/or design thatcharacterizes the media carrier being held in the container 104. Suchtext and/or design would still be visible, for example, from five to tenfeet in front of the container, in both open and closed conditions ofthe container.

Still referring to FIG. 1, the rear panel 112 has a carrier holder 124located, in this case, substantially in the center of the panel, on theinside surface. The holder 124 may be a conventional rosette that isdesigned to receive and removably hold a disk-like carrier such as amusic CD or DVD via its central, typically circular opening, so that thedisc does not fall off when the rear panel 112 is turned upside down orduring transport from a distributor to the point-of-sale environment.See, for example, FIG. 4 which shows a single media disc 128 that hasbeen pressed onto and is then gripped by the holder 124 on its circularopening, lying substantially flat, i.e. parallel to the inside of theback panel 112.

FIG. 2 shows an elevation view of the container 104, looking at theoutside of the front and rear panels 108, 112. Note the alternative opensections 255 and 257 in the front panel 108. The opening 255 is fullysurrounded by portions of the front panel 108, in contrast to opening257 which is shaped like a triangle whose third side is at an edge ofthe rear panel 108.

FIG. 1 shows also an alternative embodiment, in which the container 104is designed to hold two discs, a first one held by the holder 124 flatand close to the inside of the rear panel 112, and a second one held bya holder 144 close to the inside of the front panel 108. The height ofthe holders 124, 144 in that case should be such that the container canbe closed as shown in FIG. 5, with the front panel 108 lyingsubstantially parallel to the rear panel and abutting the peripheralwalls of the rear panel 112. In that case, a spine 121 (see FIG. 4) thatjoins the front and rear panels (running parallel to and flanked byrespective living hinges) may need to be made taller to make thecontainer deeper (to accommodate multiple discs).

The raised area 120 may be molded in the same process of molding therear panel 112 itself so that it is integral with the rear panel. Thismay be a more cost effective approach. Turning now to FIG. 3, a close upview of an embodiment of the invention is shown, illustrating analternative for how the raised area 120 may be created. The area 120 inthis case comprises a separate component, a plastic cap 320 that hasbeen separately manufactured, e.g. from a separate molding process thanone used for creating the front or back panels 108, 112. The cap 320 isdesigned and sized in this case to be snap fitted, locked or glued intoan area that is formed on the inside of the back panel 112. This area isbounded, in this example, by a diagonal wall 340 that extends out fromthe inside of the back panel 112 and runs until the horizontal wall 344that, in this example, defines the top edge 140 of the box container.The wall 340 also runs in the other direction until it abuts a verticalwall 345 that, in this example, defines the vertical edge 139 of thecontainer. This area may alternatively be located away from the edge ofthe back panel 112 (e.g., at location 155 or 157, see FIG. 1).

The piece 120 could be made in a different color than the rest of thecontainer and could be in different colors and textures. It could alsohave a pocket, e.g. on its top surface, to receive therein an insert ofimages or text. The raised piece 120 could also be molded with dynamicgraphics, such as lenticular or in-mold holograms.

Turning now to FIG. 4, yet another embodiment of the invention is shown.An insert 168 lies against the inside surface of the front panel 108(where the second disc was held by the holder 144, in the embodiment ofFIG. 1). The insert 168 may be a piece of advertising material ordescriptive material, describing the nature and contents of the disc128. The insert 168 may be one or more sheets of paper or other materialsuitable for printing, folded into a booklet form, and that is removablyheld in place against the inside of the front panel 108 by two or moreclips 170. In this example, only one of the two clips 170 is shown,namely an upper clip, where a lower clip would be positioned closertowards a bottom edge 115 of the front panel 108 (see FIG. 1). Theseclips 170 are preferably located closer to the left edge 118 of thefront panel 108 as shown, to allow greater use of the area between theleft edge and the right edge of the front panel 108.

A panel 160 is flat on the inside of the front panel near its top. Thepanel 160 starts, in this example, from a top edge 116 of the containerand extends down towards a position that is slightly above the top edgeof the insert 168. The panel 160 may be a separate piece (e.g., a plate)that can be glued onto or otherwise affixed to the inside of the frontpanel 108. As an alternative, the panel 160 may be molded plastic(during the same process as the one used for making the front panel).The panel 160 may be further enhanced with text or a logo on its topsurface that refers to the source of the digital content in the disc 128(e.g., the name of the movie production studio which released the moviethat is digitally stored in the disc 128). The panel 160 may extendhorizontally essentially the full width of the front panel as shown inFIG. 4. To achieve different logos between containers, in the case wherethe panel 160 is of molded plastic, different slugs may be used in theinjection mold chamber to form different logos.

Referring back to FIG. 5, a printed graphic depicting features of themedia content inside the container 104, e.g. part of a scaled down movieposter, may be inserted into a pocket 546 on the outside surface 550 ofthe front panel 108. The pocket 546 may be formed by a clear/transparentsleeve sheet 548 that is sealed or otherwise bonded to the outsidesurface 550 and/or to the bottom, left and right edges of the frontpanel 108 while leaving the top edge 554 of the sheet 548 unsealed (forthe printed graphic to be inserted). As an alternative, the sheet 548may span the entire width from an outside vertical edge of the rearpanel to the outside vertical edge of the front panel. The sheet in thatcase would be sealed at those edges, leaving its top and bottom endsunsealed. In another embodiment, the sheet 546 is as tall as the frontand rear panels with a top diagonal edge that is coextensive with thediagonal edge 117 of the front panel (in the embodiments shown). Otherways of forming a clear pocket on the outside surface are possible.

Note that the embodiment of FIG. 4 may be further modified to containtwo discs, by, for example, adding a swinging, hinged panel (not shown)to the spine 121 that holds the second disc. This allows the spinedimensions and the rest of the elements in FIG. 4, including thelocation of insert 168 and the panel 160, to remain unchanged.

The invention is not limited to the specific embodiments describedabove. For example, the illustrated container has peripheral walls, onboth of its front and rear panels, that abut each other in the containerclosed position. An alternative there is to not have any peripheralwalls on the front panel, such that the box is formed with peripheralwalls only on the rear panel. Accordingly, other embodiments are withinthe scope of the claims.

1. A container for a media carrier, comprising: a front panel having afront-to-back open section therein; and a rear panel coupled to thefront panel by a hinge, an inside surface of the rear panel facing aninside surface of the front panel when the panels are positionedparallel to each other when the container is closed, an area on theinside surface of the rear panel having one of text and a design thatcharacterizes the media carrier, the area and the open section beingsized and positioned relative to each other such that the text or designis visible from the front, when the panels are parallel to each otherwith the container closed, and when the panels are perpendicular to eachother with the container open.
 2. The container of claim 1 furthercomprising a holder on the inside surface of the rear panel to receiveand removably hold a disk-like media carrier flat in relation to theinside surface of the rear panel.
 3. The container of claim 2 whereinthe holder is designed to removably grip a central, circular opening ofa disk-like media carrier.
 4. The container of claim 2 wherein the frontand rear panels are rectangular, and the open section is located at atop corner of the front panel so that an outside horizontal edge of thefront panel at its top is connected to an outside vertical edge of thefront panel at its side by a diagonal outside edge of the front panel.5. The container of claim 2 further comprising a clip on the insidesurface of the front panel, the clip having one end affixed to theinside surface and another end in contact with, but not affixed to, thesurface and being resiliently liftable off the surface.
 6. The containerof claim 2 further comprising a spine coupled between the panels by saidhinge on one side and by another hinge on another side.
 7. The containerof claim 5 further comprising a panel, flat on the inside surface of thefront panel, above the clip, and bearing one of text and a design thatcharacterizes the media container.
 8. A container comprising: a frontpanel; a rear panel; a hinge that couples the front and rear panels toeach other; the front and rear panels being shaped to form a box whenthe panels are positioned to abut one another at their peripheries, aninside flat surface of the rear panel lying inside the formed box; araised piece on the inside flat surface of the rear panel; and a frontto back opening formed in the front panel to expose the raised piecewhen the panels are positioned to abut one another at their peripheries.9. The container of claim 8 wherein the raised piece is located at a topcorner of the rear panel.
 10. The container of claim 8 furthercomprising a holder on the inside flat surface of the rear panel toreceive and removably hold a disk-like media carrier flat in relation tothe inside surface of the rear panel.
 11. A container comprising: afront panel; a rear panel coupled to the front panel by a living hingeand shaped together with the front panel to form a box when closed; thefront panel having a front to back open section such that a tophorizontal edge of the front panel is connected to a vertical edge ofthe front panel by a diagonal edge of the front panel; and a raisedpiece on an inside surface of the rear panel, the raised piece beingshaped and positioned so that when the front panel has been rotatedabout the hinge to lie flat in relation to the inside surface in aclosed condition of the container, the diagonal edge stops short ofcontacting the raised piece.
 12. The container of claim 11 furthercomprising a holder on the inside surface of the rear panel to receiveand removably hold a disk-like media carrier flat in relation to theinside surface of the rear panel.
 13. The container of claim 12 furthercomprising a logo on a top surface of the raised piece and thatdescribes a type of said media carrier.
 14. The container of claim 13wherein the logo and the top surface of the raised piece are largeenough to allow a person to recognize the logo from a distance of up tofive feet.
 15. The container of claim 11 wherein the raised piece iscoextensive with the rear panel along a vertical edge and a tophorizontal edge of the rear panel.
 16. The container of claim 11 furthercomprising: a peripheral wall running along a top horizontal edge, avertical edge, and a bottom horizontal edge of the rear panel and beingperpendicular to the inside surface of the rear panel; and a spinecoupled between the front and rear panels along another vertical edge ofthe rear panel.
 17. An apparatus comprising: a container having arectangular front panel hinged to a rectangular rear panel, a holder onan inside surface of the rear panel to removably hold a media carrier,the front panel having a missing section, a raised area on the insidesurface of the rear panel that is in part coextensive with the missingsection when the panels are parallel to each other in a container closedcondition.
 18. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein a top surface of theraised area is coplanar with an outside surface of the front panel, whenthe container is closed.
 19. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein themissing section is at an edge of the rear panel.
 20. The apparatus ofclaim 17 wherein the missing section is entirely spaced inward of theedges of the rear panel, and the raised area is entirely coextensivewith the missing section.
 21. A method comprising: obtaining a containerhaving a front panel, a rear panel, and a hinge that couples the frontand rear panels to each other, the front panel having a front to backopen section, a holder on the inside surface of the rear panel toremovably grip a compact disc at its central opening; and attaching apiece to an area on an inside surface of the rear panel that is alignedwith the open section.